


Along the Long Wire

by NancyBrown



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Online Dating, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 14:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9660659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NancyBrown/pseuds/NancyBrown
Summary: Toshiko doesn't dare tell the others about this. Owen would tease her. Gwen would offer well meant yet patronizing advice. Jack would launch into another raunchy story about sleeping with an android.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Meatball42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/gifts).



It would figure that Toshiko falls in love with someone over the internet. She doesn't dare tell the others. Owen would tease her. Gwen would offer well meant yet patronizing advice. Jack would launch into another raunchy story about sleeping with an android.

She keeps her secret to herself. It isn't as if she knows his real name, or even if he's a him. All she knows is how brilliant Ferr1c is, how his minds twists and creates along the same pathways hers does. She's always felt alone, more of a stranger to this world than even the aliens they track down every day, set apart by the platinum-wire swiftness of her own mind. Ferr1c keeps up with her, challenges her, finds new facets of ideas she's barely sussed out herself.

Heart in her mouth, she types, "I have a strange question for you. Have you ever heard of the Doctor?" It's her only guess, the only person she can imagine meeting who proves to be her equal.

"They call me Doctor Love, but don't let that get around," Ferr1c replies, with one of the graphics they've developed between them to show an amused smirk.

Not the Doctor, then. Just a perfect stranger with a perfect mind. She can't even trace his messages. He's got bounced signals and firewalls she envies. Torchwood's firewalls are better, but only because they incorporate non-terrestrial technology. He's intriguing. She knows he lives somewhere in America. He knows she lives somewhere in Britain. That gives him the advantage.

"I'm going to be in London for a meeting next week," Ferr1c sends to her one day. "I'll understand if you don't want to meet, but I'd love it if you did."

Tosh closes the message with a reply. This has gone too far. Yes, he's perfect. Yes, he's amazing. No, he would never understand her life.

She has to tell Jack.

He's more sympathetic than tawdry this once. They both know the terms of her contract, the terms of her parole. Romance is permitted. Revelation isn't.

Jack rubs his eyes, and looks back on a lifetime Tosh can only imagine. "You haven't told him your name?"

"No."

"Janice. Your name is Janice. Spend a weekend with your friend. Enjoy yourself. Then let him go."

"You really think so?"

"I really do."

Creating a backstory and identification for Janice Saito is simplicity itself. Toshiko is going undercover for a few days, Jack tells the others. Ianto rents her a car through the mysterious channels he uses for that sort of thing. It's the most preparation she's ever undergone for a date.

"How will I know who you are?" she messages to Ferr1c as she loads her bag into the boot.

"You'll know. Wear a rose in your hair. I'll have one pinned to my lapel." He gives her the name of a rather expensive restaurant she's always wanted to try. He wants to impress her. That's sweet.

Tosh's heart blooms with silly joy as she drives. The trip is long enough to give her a dozen fantasies, each more embarrassing than the last. This is just a date, she reminds herself. He's probably just as shy and unassuming as she is, pale from too much time in front of a computer screen, a little out of shape and prone to laughing too loudly at his own jokes. She loves his mind. He loves her mind. Neither should expect more than this.

She reaches the restaurant a few minutes late, cursing the traffic between her hotel and here. As she reaches the door, she notices a face she's seen before, someone famous from the news. Her estimation of this exclusive establishment goes even higher. Jack won't mind if she has to break into her Torchwood discretionary funds to pay for dinner. She hopes.

She gives a friendly, not-staring smile to the famous man and his bodyguard. An actor, maybe? She can't quite remember. Then she sees the rose at his lapel, just as the memory slots into place of his name and where she's seen him before. His eyes fix on the rose in her hair.

For a moment, Toshiko feels the crushing weigh of a thousand small sorrows in her past. He's disappointed. He was expecting someone prettier, someone more vivacious, someone like him.

Tony smiles, and it's both genuine and kind. "Electricmaiden, I presume?" She nods and he sweeps her hand into a quick kiss on her knuckle. "It's a pleasure to meet you." His eyes twinkle.

This is where her alias should come into play, but she already knows his real name, and Jack can yell at her later.

"Call me Toshiko."


End file.
